Debates of the Maryland Constitutional Convention of 1867 (As reprinted from articles reported in The Baltimore Sun.) Compiled by PHILIP B. PERLMAN of the Baltimore Bar Hepbron & Haydon, Publishers To JOHN HASLUP ADAMS the first Editor of The Evening Sun, for which paper I was the first court reporter, this compilation is affectionately dedicated. Ref.-Stacks Phemisten 9-24-23 9130 PREFACE It is to be regretted that the Constitutional Convention of 1867, actuated largely by desire for economy, made no provision for a verbatim report of its debates, the only cfficial record being the journal of proceedings. The instrument framed then has survived for more than half a century, and remains a testimonial to the able and conscientious work done by those who were members of the Convention. Much that was said and done, lost through the failure to preserve the debates, would have been of inestimable value in arriving at the true construction of provisions written into the Maryland Constitution for the first time by that Convention. During Albert C. Ritchie's administration of the office of Attorney General, a case involving the construction of a provision of the Maryland Constitution was tried in the Court of Appeals. In the preparation of the brief by the Attorney General and by Ogle Marbury, Assistant Attorney General, an effort was made to find what had been said in the Convention about that particular provision. A search of the files of The Sun was made and some data, later used in the argument in the Court of Appeals, was found. The accounts in The Sun were reported with such apparent care that it was suggested that the articles on the Convention should be compiled and printed so as to make them accessible to those desiring information on the subject. This book is the result. In addition to the debates, this volume contains detailed accounts of the suit for an injunction to prevent the election on the question of a convention; a resume of the work of the Convention, as printed in The Sun after the adjournment, and a full account of the visit of President Johnson to Annapolis, including his speech to the members of the Convention. I am indebted to the editors of The Sun and the Library of Congress at Washington for their co-operation, and to Horace E. Flack for his valuable work on the index. PHILIP B. PERLMAN. May, 1923 |